We are purchasing a newly constructed flat in Hampton Hill and my lawyer is telling me that she is duty bound to the bank to disclose incentives from the developer. I am on a tight deadline to exchange and I have no desire to prolong matters. Is my lawyer right?

You should not exchange unless you have been advised to do so by your property lawyer. A precondition to being on a bank panel is to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook conditions. The CML Conveyancing Handbook requires that your lawyer have the appropriate Disclosure of Incentive form completed by the developer and accepted by your lender.

The Hampton Hill conveyancing lawyers that I recently instructed on my purchase in Hampton Hill have without warning shut down. They were on acting for me because I needed a lawyer on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel and my previous Hampton Hill lawyer was not. I cut them a cheque for two hundred pounds in advance. What do I do now?

If you have an estate agent involved then let them know immediately so that they can let the sellers know that there may be a slight delay due to the problems encountered. Most sellers would be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You should appoint new lawyers that are on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new lawyers should be in a position to assist.

I am buying a new build flat in Hampton Hill. Conveyancing is daunting at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. What sort of enquires would be asked in new build conveyancing.

Here is a sample of a few leasehold new build enquiries that you may expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Hampton Hill

Will the freehold then be transferred for a nominal consideration (not exceeding £100) to the Management Company? The Landlord must covenant to assume the management if the Management Company goes into liquidation or otherwise defaults in running the management scheme. If there are lifts in the building, please confirm that the owners of flats on the ground and basement floors will not be required to contribute towards the cost of maintenance and renewal. The Lease must contain a provision on behalf of the Vendor to pay the service charges in respect of unoccupied units in order to ensure that all services can be provided. The Vendor must covenant to keep unsold units in good repair until long leases are granted therefore.

I have been on the look out for a ground for flat up to £245,000 and identified one close by in Hampton Hill I like with a park and railway links nearby, however it's only got 51 years unexpired on the lease. There is not much else in Hampton Hill in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake buying a lease with such few years left?

If you need a mortgage the remaining unexpired lease term may be an issue. Reduce the offer by the amount the lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the existing proprietor has owned the property for at least 2 years you can ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor concerning this matter.

Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only 72 years left on my flat in Hampton Hill. I now want to extend my lease but my landlord is absent. What are my options?

On the basis that you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be extended by the Court. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have made all reasonable attempts to locate the lessor. For most situations a specialist would be helpful to try and locate and prepare a report to be used as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer both on proving the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Hampton Hill.

Following years of dialogue we simply can't agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Hampton Hill. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

in cases where there is a missing landlord or where there is disagreement about what the lease extension should cost, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 it is possible to make an application to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to decide the price.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Hampton Hill residence is Ground Floor Flat 91 Bath Road in May 2009. in a case where the freeholder could not be traced, the Brentford County Court ordered that the Lease be surrendered in return for the grant of a new lease of the Premises at a premium determined by the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal. The tribunal concluded that the price payable by the Applicant for the new lease of the premises be £15,900 This case affected 1 flat. The unexpired residue of the current lease was 60.45 years.